The highly anticipated comeback of K-pop sensation BTS is expected to deliver a major financial windfall for HYBE in 2026. According to Billboard, the group’s first album and world tour in three years could bring in over $1 billion in revenue within a year — spanning concert ticket sales, merchandise, licensing, album purchases, and streaming.
BTS, the trailblazing act that catapulted K-pop into the global spotlight and earned their first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit with “Dynamite” in 2020, has been on hiatus since 2022. During that time, the members fulfilled their mandatory military duties and pursued individual projects. The group officially reunited on July 1, announcing plans for a new album set for spring 2026. On Thursday (Oct. 16), RM gave fans another update, telling them to “look forward to late March,” adding that BTS still needs to complete album preparations, photo shoots, and the music video.
A BTS reunion tour is expected to be the centerpiece of the group’s long-awaited return. Hyundai Motor Securities analyst Kim Hyun-yong projects the tour will include around 65 shows, each drawing an average of 60,000 fans. While most K-pop tours are shorter, BTS’ 2018–2019 Love Yourself World Tour featured 62 performances across 14 countries, spanning both stadiums and arenas. Given their expanded global fanbase and heightened popularity, the upcoming tour could see even larger venues — and HYBE is unlikely to miss out on maximizing its revenue potential.
The 2026 BTS tour would benefit from both rising ticket prices and immense fan demand. Billboard Boxscore reports that average ticket prices for the top 10 stadium tours reached $150.94 in North America, $121.12 in Europe, and $110.57 elsewhere in 2024 — representing annual increases of 4.1%, 9.2%, and 13.6% respectively since 2022. Applying similar growth rates, a 65-date world tour evenly spread across the three regions, with 60,000 attendees per show, could result in 3.9 million tickets sold at an average of $150.29 each — totaling roughly $664.1 million in gross revenue. For comparison, Coldplay’s 2024 world tour was the year’s top-grosser, earning $401 million from 3 million tickets sold across 51 shows.
Merchandise sales, both at concerts and online, would further bolster BTS’ earnings. According to atVenu’s 2025 Fan Spending Report, the average K-pop fan spends about $50 on concert merchandise, and roughly 37% of fans make such purchases. Billboard’s K-Pop Fandom in the U.S. survey also found that 85% of K-pop fans buy merchandise overall, while 47% attended a concert in the past year. Applying those figures, BTS’ 3.9 million concertgoers would generate around $72.2 million in merchandise sales at venues (37% of the 47% attending fans), with an additional $280 million from online and other retail channels. Altogether, total merchandise revenue could reach approximately $352.7 million.
Album sales remain a cornerstone of any K-pop group’s success, and BTS is expected to deliver massive numbers once again amid strong demand for new music. The group’s last release, Proof — an anthology featuring three new songs including “Yet to Come” — debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. In its first week alone, Proof sold roughly 2.7 million units in South Korea. By the end of 2022, the album had sold 422,000 units in the U.S. (per Luminate) and 601,000 in Japan (according to HYBE’s Q4 2022 report), totaling over 4 million global sales. A new BTS album could easily match those figures, selling an estimated 4 million copies at $20 each within a year — translating to about $80 million in gross revenue.
Streaming will also provide a major revenue stream for HYBE. Estimating the financial impact of BTS’ return to digital platforms involves comparing their past performance. In 2022, the year Proof was released, BTS saw 9.22 billion more global on-demand streams than they are projected to earn this year, according to Luminate. If the group returns to that 2022 streaming level in 2026, those additional 9.22 billion streams could generate approximately $33.2 million.
Altogether, the four key segments — concerts, merchandise and licensing, album sales, and streaming — could bring BTS and HYBE an estimated $1.05 billion in total revenue.
Of course, HYBE’s actual earnings from BTS’ comeback will fall short of the projected $1.05 billion. Ticket sales figures represent the total paid by fans for primary tickets — not the portion retained by the group or HYBE. Likewise, the merchandise and album sales estimates are based on retail values that measure consumer spending rather than net company revenue. Streaming, however, provides a more accurate reflection of the money HYBE will directly receive from on-demand platforms.
Still, BTS’ return is expected to deliver strong profit margins. In 2024, HYBE reported a record $1.6 billion in revenue but saw operating profit fall by 40%, as heavy investment in new artist development and diversification efforts weighed on margins. Company executives have indicated that profitability will improve once BTS resumes full activity — though that impact is now likely to appear on the 2026 income statement, rather than in 2025 as originally anticipated.
While BTS’ comeback will undoubtedly generate a massive financial boost, HYBE is no longer as dependent on the group as it once was. BTS once accounted for as much as 95% of HYBE’s total revenue, but that share dropped below 20% in 2024, according to the company’s February 21 earnings call. In recent years, HYBE has expanded its portfolio by acquiring labels such as Big Machine and Quality Control, while nurturing rising acts like ENHYPEN and Tomorrow X Together. Its international ventures, including HYBE Latin America’s boy group project, are also expected to strengthen future growth.
That said, when BTS’ billion-dollar comeback officially begins, the group’s influence on HYBE’s business will once again be unmistakable.
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